


Cynthia, The Girl Behind The Shadow Man

by OT7Author



Series: The Unwanted Adventures Of Johnathon Dewey [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Horror, Implied Bullying, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Other, Seeing The Undead, Spirits, child characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24255358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OT7Author/pseuds/OT7Author
Summary: When Johnathon was a child he had been contacted by spirits a lot. He had been frightened of all of them, a phobia of sorts taking over his mind and controlling his every moment from the first time that a sickly cold hand reached out to touch his skin. One, in particular, made his skin crawl more than others.
Relationships: n/a
Series: The Unwanted Adventures Of Johnathon Dewey [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692376
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Cynthia, The Girl Behind The Shadow Man

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by - [xxxbangtanhoe](https://twitter.com/xxxbangtanhoe)
> 
> My Twitter - [OT7Author](https://twitter.com/OT7Author_)
> 
> Something that you all should know is that starting Jan 1st, 2022 I will take all of my work off of this platform. I will be posting onto Twitter, as well as my card which can be found pinned on my Twitter. Here is a link though if you would like to check it out. [Carrd](https://distuberofyourwork.carrd.co/) Thank you for supporting me and I hope to see you on my Twitter as well as any future sites that I will post on.

When Johnathon was a child he had been contacted by spirits a lot. He had been frightened of all of them, a phobia of sorts taking over his mind and controlling his every moment from the first time that a sickly cold hand reached out to touch his skin. One in particular though made his skin crawl more than others. 

There was something about this spirit, that unlike the rest, felt entirely deadly. Lethal in a way that felt real, and not in the way that his heart raced when others appeared before him, his young mind conjuring images of torture that was in reality never going to happen.

Her name was Cynthia. 

Cynthia was a little girl. She didn’t look dead, she appeared very much alive in fact. Her hair was bouncy and blonde, her face and body cherubic in a way that made Johnathon feel at ease despite the eeriness in her gaze and smile. A Victorian-styled blue gown fell over her slight frame and made her pale skin stand out brightly from the contrast. She talked like any child Johnathon had ever known, and to him, at the tender age of four, thought that she was just like him when he had first encountered her on the playground. 

He was alone on the swings, Cynthia sitting on the swing next to him. Talking to him. Asking him tons of questions, some that he didn’t understand or even know how to answer. His father was off to the side, reading a book while he played, not paying attention to him in the slightest. Somewhere off in the distance within the woods surrounding the park, Johnathon could even hear his mother and older brother moving further down the path, leaving him under the unwatchful stare of his father. 

Johnathon had Cynthia though, so he wasn’t as lonely as he normally would have been. If he was allowed in the woods he would have gone with his mother and brother, but for some reason, he wasn’t allowed to go. That didn’t feel it was too fair of them to go without him, but he didn’t have a say. So he played by himself on the deserted playground, sad because his father wouldn’t play with him when Cynthia appeared. 

It was like she had appeared out of thin air, but Johnathon knew that that was impossible, that people didn’t just appear out of nothing. His parents had gotten onto him enough times at this point for him to know that when that happened it was all a part of his overactive imagination and that people simply didn’t do that. 

“Hello,” He called out to the little girl and at first she was surprised that he had spoken to her, her large blue eyes getting comically wide on her face before she started to talk to him as well. They were having a wonderful conversation, probably one of the best ones Johnathon had had in a long time since he wasn’t allowed to play with other children.

Not after last time. 

It wasn’t his fault though…

He had been scared like he always is, and wanted to make sure that the scary man with the blood on his face didn’t hurt him or his ‘friends’. It wasn’t his fault that the man disappeared as soon as his mother and father came outside to see why he was screaming hysterically. The guy had just disappeared…

After that, he wasn’t allowed to play with the neighbor’s son anymore, they never told him why just that he couldn’t. His older brother said it was because he was a freak and that Philip didn’t want to play with him anymore. That he didn’t want to be seen with a freak like him. Part of Johnathon felt that his brother may be right, that nobody would want to be his friend because of how he is, but here he was becoming friends with Cynthia and it wasn’t too bad. He just had to make sure that he didn’t mess up like he normally did.

He could be good. 

The two of them talked for what felt like hours, laughing and having fun, when Cynthia suddenly stood up from where she was sitting on the swing and extended her hand towards him. “Come with me I have something I want to show you.”

Not thinking about what he was doing, Johnathon placed his hand in hers and allowed her to drag him across the playground. She was moving fast, her head looking this way and that, always settling on his father for a moment before looking forward again towards the woods. He dug his heels on the ground when he noticed where she was taking him, “I’m not allowed to go into the woods.”

“It will be alright, just trust me.” She was dragging him again, using a strength that propelled him with her despite how much he struggled to get free from her grasp.

“I don’t want to go in the woods, I will get in trouble.”

“You will be alright, you won’t get in trouble with me.” She looked at him, a sweet smile etched onto her angel-like face but instead of feeling reassured he just became more frightened. 

“I can’t go, I’m not allowed,” They were almost in the woods now, her body becoming hidden among the shrubbery and trees to the point that he could only see her arm as she dragged him in behind herself. 

Johnathon fought though, he didn’t want to get in trouble with his mother and father, he didn’t want to get yelled at or grounded or even worse spanked, didn’t want his older brother to tease him and bully him for being a bad child again, so he used all his strength to keep his lower half out of the woods despite the fact that he was now partially inside. 

“Come with me Jonathon, you will be alright here,” Cynthia was starting to disappear, her form becoming corporal and a scream lodged itself in Johnathon’s throat, ready to erupt when he caught sight of the figure not that far away. 

It was tall and foreboding, shrouded in darkness, black from head to toe in a way that reminded him of ‘Peter Pan’s’ shadow. The man was standing there, only feet away behind Cynthia unmoving, a noose hanging from the tree limb above his head. 

The shadow approached, its arm reaching for him, but just as it was about to touch him Johnathon was being pulled back into his father’s arms. He knew that his father saw the shadow man two with the way that he clutched him and started shouting, cussing in a way he only heard when his parents had their worse fights and his mother would come out of the bedroom bruised in the morning around her arms and eyes. 

Shivering, he clung to his father, scared out of his mind, the form of Cynthia flashing in front of his eyes even as they rushed to the police station to make a report, and he was tucked into his bed at home alone. That night, Cynthia’s face appeared in his bedroom window, beckoning him to come forward and open it for her. But he knew that he shouldn’t, because not that far away from her, the shadow man was looming. Waiting for his chance to take him….


End file.
